Best country for socially integrating kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whenever I hear about people doing this I think of all the people from those same countries who chose to come to and stay in the US.

Yes, it doesn't seem like it at times, but American kids (allllll American kids living here in America) have the best chance to be well-socialized, confident leaders.

This is such an insular view of the world. As an American expat who has lived in 4 other countries, I can assure you the rest of the world socializes their kids just fine. And attending private international schools abroad produces highly confident future leaders, with a broad world view.

Yet you put your kids in an international school where the majority of the children are expats. Why not have your kids in a local school where they can integrate with the locals and learn the country’s language.

Just FYI, international schools are usually about 50% local.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whenever I hear about people doing this I think of all the people from those same countries who chose to come to and stay in the US.

Yes, it doesn't seem like it at times, but American kids (allllll American kids living here in America) have the best chance to be well-socialized, confident leaders.

This is such an insular view of the world. As an American expat who has lived in 4 other countries, I can assure you the rest of the world socializes their kids just fine. And attending private international schools abroad produces highly confident future leaders, with a broad world view.

You mean well-connected rich kids receiving an elite education and insulating themselves from local populations as they gallivant the world in their parents exclusive international social circles have great chances of becoming leaders? Shocking.

There are tons of ordinary people who chose a career in foreign service. They are not elites or well connected, except for very high up the chain.

There are ups and downs to the ex-pat life, but Americans that have been through that lifestyle are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. It’s easy to recognize that they and their kids are different as soon as you meet them. They are usually a much better class of human than their peers over here.

That's not integration with locals. That is isolating with a very specific group of American people who are transient and feel superior to others, including the country they live in for a few years, without truly mingling.

That's the foreign service people. I've lived in a few countries where the divide between the expats who were foreign service and those who weren't was almost comical. They arrive thinking they already know everything based on whatever briefings the get, have an air of superiority thanks only to a diplomatic passport, and generally spend so little time in each country (2-4 yrs) that they barely understand it and have integrated before they go to the next corner of the world. ANd it's not like they go from Denmark to Sweden or Tajikistan to Turkmenistan or Chile to Bolivia so there might be cultural overlap. Its from Greece to Japan or similar. Such a weird system.

My experience is similar. There are three types of expat. Foreign service/diplomatic corps, miltary, and those who work for private companies. The first two are different. Often entitled and often not ventruing very far outside their respective groups.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whenever I hear about people doing this I think of all the people from those same countries who chose to come to and stay in the US.

Yes, it doesn't seem like it at times, but American kids (allllll American kids living here in America) have the best chance to be well-socialized, confident leaders.

This is such an insular view of the world. As an American expat who has lived in 4 other countries, I can assure you the rest of the world socializes their kids just fine. And attending private international schools abroad produces highly confident future leaders, with a broad world view.

Yet you put your kids in an international school where the majority of the children are expats. Why not have your kids in a local school where they can integrate with the locals and learn the country’s language.

Just FYI, international schools are usually about 50% local.

This is actually not true. International schools have a very high turnover, you will see friends come and go. also these schools are insanely expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whenever I hear about people doing this I think of all the people from those same countries who chose to come to and stay in the US.

Yes, it doesn't seem like it at times, but American kids (allllll American kids living here in America) have the best chance to be well-socialized, confident leaders.

This is such an insular view of the world. As an American expat who has lived in 4 other countries, I can assure you the rest of the world socializes their kids just fine. And attending private international schools abroad produces highly confident future leaders, with a broad world view.

Yet you put your kids in an international school where the majority of the children are expats. Why not have your kids in a local school where they can integrate with the locals and learn the country’s language.

Just FYI, international schools are usually about 50% local.

This is actually not true. International schools have a very high turnover, you will see friends come and go. also these schools are insanely expensive.

My experience is only 3 countries on two continents and yes, they were all roughly 50% local. And yes, they are expensive. So the locals are the children of the 1% who want their kids to be able to go to Harvard, Oxford, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are seriously thinking about leaving the country. One of my biggest concerns is leaving DC’s tight circle of friends.

We are fortunate that visas are not an issue - we have the right to go to multiple Commonwealth and EU countries through family. Which would be the best for kids making friends? I have found some Brits vicious but appreciate that there’s no language barrier. Would Ireland be more friendly? I don’t want this to be more disruptive than it has to be. Thanks in advance for your advice!

Didn't read all the posts. Did you go, OP? To where?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think about this too OP with moving to the UK. Though the way my in-laws complain about things there, I’m not sure we’d actually be happier there. My kids are super happy here, it’s more about my spouse hating the US and I do see things getting worse here. If you are prioritizing your kids, I think staying here with their good friends is probably best (assuming kids are older).

I'm the former expat from earlier in this thread. I have family and many friends in the UK. They all worry about similar things as we do in the US. People are unhappy about mass migration and inability of governments to do anything about it, there's frustrations with a monolithic woke institutional culture that tells you if you complain you're racist, there's significant belief that young people today need to leave the country to better themselves due to economic factors (shockingly expensive housing costs and low/stagnant wages while immigration to the UK never ends), making migration to the UAE or Australia very popular and many would love to come to the US if they could, they also worry about overburdened social services due to the mass migration etc cetera, the NHS is always teetering on the point of collapse. If you pay any attention to British politics, the Reform party (new party headed by Nigel Farage) is now leading the other two parties in the polls and the Labour party is deeply unpopular despite being elected in a landslide last year albeit with the lowest share of the vote for a governing party.

All the major EU countries are having significant political and cultural upheavals. Germany with the ADF, France with Marie Le Pen (who is the biggest party in France right now). Uber progressive Denmark is doing everything it can to effectively ban immigration from outside the EU and is resolutely nationalistic with plenty of Danish pride clearly dividing people into Danish and non Danish. The Netherlands is seething with tensions over immigration. I find it fascinating that fearful American progressives seem to think it's nothing but honey and sugar overseas.

At the end of the day, the country with the best reputation for diversity is....ta de da.... the United States. Even Trump's own administration isn't immune.

And the fact that OP doesn’t know anything about the countries she wants to move to, IS the problem. She just assumes she can plop down anywhere she wants, without even checking with what those countries want, is just so American. She belongs here.

[Anonymous]

No update from OP guess they ditched this forum when they moved

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think about this too OP with moving to the UK. Though the way my in-laws complain about things there, I’m not sure we’d actually be happier there. My kids are super happy here, it’s more about my spouse hating the US and I do see things getting worse here. If you are prioritizing your kids, I think staying here with their good friends is probably best (assuming kids are older).

I'm the former expat from earlier in this thread. I have family and many friends in the UK. They all worry about similar things as we do in the US. People are unhappy about mass migration and inability of governments to do anything about it, there's frustrations with a monolithic woke institutional culture that tells you if you complain you're racist, there's significant belief that young people today need to leave the country to better themselves due to economic factors (shockingly expensive housing costs and low/stagnant wages while immigration to the UK never ends), making migration to the UAE or Australia very popular and many would love to come to the US if they could, they also worry about overburdened social services due to the mass migration etc cetera, the NHS is always teetering on the point of collapse. If you pay any attention to British politics, the Reform party (new party headed by Nigel Farage) is now leading the other two parties in the polls and the Labour party is deeply unpopular despite being elected in a landslide last year albeit with the lowest share of the vote for a governing party.

All the major EU countries are having significant political and cultural upheavals. Germany with the ADF, France with Marie Le Pen (who is the biggest party in France right now). Uber progressive Denmark is doing everything it can to effectively ban immigration from outside the EU and is resolutely nationalistic with plenty of Danish pride clearly dividing people into Danish and non Danish. The Netherlands is seething with tensions over immigration. I find it fascinating that fearful American progressives seem to think it's nothing but honey and sugar overseas.

At the end of the day, the country with the best reputation for diversity is....ta de da.... the United States. Even Trump's own administration isn't immune.

And the fact that OP doesn’t know anything about the countries she wants to move to, IS the problem. She just assumes she can plop down anywhere she wants, without even checking with what those countries want, is just so American. She belongs here.

Yep, many EU and commonwealth countries have long lines of people wanting to emigrate there and strict rules for immigration and simply having family in those countries would not be an automatic green light,

[Anonymous]

...through family? It doesn't work that way, but ok. I've lived and worked all over the world and if there is one thing I took away from those experiences it's that there are a lot worse, developed countries for women and lots of f&cked up political situations. Much more so than the US.

[Anonymous]

I'm from the UK but lived in the USA for 22 yrs (in two different life stages - middle & high school, then again in my late 30s / late 40s with small kids who became teens.

I would choose the Netherlands. Excellent education, most people speak English, strong welfare state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are seriously thinking about leaving the country. One of my biggest concerns is leaving DC’s tight circle of friends.

We are fortunate that visas are not an issue - we have the right to go to multiple Commonwealth and EU countries through family. Which would be the best for kids making friends? I have found some Brits vicious but appreciate that there’s no language barrier. Would Ireland be more friendly? I don’t want this to be more disruptive than it has to be. Thanks in advance for your advice!

Romania or Greece.

[Anonymous]

This has to be a troll. If your child actually has wonderful friends, they have one of the greatest gifts a person can experience. You should see your friends as one of the most precious things in your life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm from the UK but lived in the USA for 22 yrs (in two different life stages - middle & high school, then again in my late 30s / late 40s with small kids who became teens.

I would choose the Netherlands. Excellent education, most people speak English, strong welfare state.

You haven't spent a lot of time with the Dutch, have you? They are known for their negativity, judgementalism and culturally-imbedded stinginess.

Their strong welfare state means vast numbers of the population look for any excuse to not work. Getting months of paid time off for just about any reason thanks to taxpayers.

Not to mention the horrible weather ...

[Anonymous]

Finland

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Finland

Why?